Tiny huts and homes completely reject the "bigger is better" mentality. Instead, it seems like many of the small structures we have come across - like this beautiful charcoal-colored hut designed by <a href="http://www2.odn.ne.jp/yaomitsu/">Koji Kakiuchi in Japan</a>, and the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/lantern-like-hanging-japanese-tea-house-brings-visitors-in-touch-with-nature/">lantern teahouse outside of Washington D.C.</a> featured previously - have some kind of meditative purpose. Certainly that is true of this 8.31 square meter hut raised off a steep slope in Nara, which was designed to resemble a Japanese Torri corridor - a reflective space that bridges the outside world with the entrance to sacred shrines.

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

In Japan, a Torri Corridor is a reflective space between the outside world and a sacred shrine

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

And the inspiration for this tiny hut in Nara

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

At only an 8.31 square meters it has a tiny footprint

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

Only one room, and an outdoor sheltered terrace

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

The interior is finished off in Japanese cedar

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

While the exterior is clad in charred timber

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

From afar, it's almost invisible, surrounded as it is by trees

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

But small and simple does not preclude depth

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

By creating a series of repeating frames

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

Kakiuchi has created a different kind of corridor

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

Except this time, nature is the shrine!

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

We love tiny huts and homes that completely defy the bigger is better mentality.

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Hut by Koji Kaikuchi

Tiny huts and homes completely reject the "bigger is better" mentality. Instead, it seems like many of the small structures we have come across - like this beautiful charcoal-colored hut designed by Koji Kakiuchi in Japan, and the lantern teahouse outside of Washington D.C. featured previously - have some kind of meditative purpose. Certainly that is true of this 8.31 square meter hut raised off a steep slope in Nara, which was designed to resemble a Japanese Torri corridor - a reflective space that bridges the outside world with the entrance to sacred shrines.